These should arrive later this year or in 2023 and will be a game-changer for protectionĭistributing ten high quality masks to all Australians aged 12 and older would also be a game changer in a serious outbreak.īut to enable this, federal and state governments will need to stockpile 200 million or more KN95 or N95 masks. early access to next-generation vaccines that will better protect us against new variants.KN95 and N95 masks reduce a person’s risk of COVID infection by 83 per cent, compared to 56-66 per cent or so for cloth and surgical masks large stockpiles of rapid antigen tests (RATs).ongoing improvement of ventilation of indoor spaces.If we want to keep society open and ticking along in the face of a new, more infectious and more severe variant, we need planning and action in four key areas: Still coughing after COVID? Here’s why it happens and what to do about it What do we need to do to prepare?
To avoid that, we need to use the other tools in our toolbox. So if a new variant arrives that is innately more severe (causing more hospitalisations and death despite our high vaccination and Omicron infection rates), we will probably have to turn some restrictions back on, such as wearing masks indoors and working from home if you can. However, a new variant could still stress our health systems and society again.
Our immunity from vaccines and natural infection, while not perfect, should slow its spread and result in less serious illness if infected. We would expect this new variant to not spread as fast, not infect as many people and not hospitalise and kill as many people as if the variant had arrived in 2020. Credit: AAPįor arguments sake, let’s imagine a new variant arrives in mid-2022 that is as or more virulent than Delta. More than 58,000 new COVID-19 cases have been recorded in Australia, including 19,183 in NSW.
We’re lucky the variant that came along just as we were largely vaccinated and ready to open up to the world was Omicron with lower virulence. We just don’t know what the next variant will bring. New variants muscle out existing variants because they are either innately more infectious, or have some immune escape, meaning vaccines or previous infection offer less protection.īut there is no natural selection advantage based on innate virulence (how likely it is to cause severe illness, hospitalisation and death). COVID-19 infection could result in a more debilitating diagnosis already affecting a million Aussies How easily could a new COVID-19 variant spread?
0 kommentar(er)
